Hockey Rhetoric

Seven months ago there wasn’t a person in this country who didn’t know that Leno was moving to prime-time and that Conan would be taking over The Tonight Show at the 11:30 time slot. Now look, there’s not many people my age that care less about late night television talk shows than I do but even I was curious enough to tune in on Conan’s first week. I wanted to see what his stage would look like, how his jokes would be received, and how well he was able to interact with the guests. NBC and other media folks had made such a big deal out of what was happening with The Tonight Show, I eventually gave in. After watching a couple of nights worth of shows I thought it was cool and seemed pretty well done if you’re into that sort of thing but I’m not and so I didn’t make a habit of turning on Conan at 11:30 every night. » Read the rest of this entry «

For me, defending and siding with the Carolina Hurricanes is like pulling teeth. I will always have a robust hatred for the Carolina Hurricanes as long as Cam Ward, Eric Stahl, and Rod Brind’Amour play for that team. When the Sabres lost to them in 2007 I was devastated on a level I’m ashamed to admit.

With that said, there’s something that happened during last Suday’s game between Boston and Carolina, that I have to address and that I felt strongly enough on to take Carolina’s side. It was literally less than an hour after the game was over before this video of the play was posted on Youtube. » Read the rest of this entry «

I think pretty highly of Ryan Miller. Above all the pedestrian numbers and critics and other nonsense, is the fact that he’s a winning goaltender. He may let in the occasional weak goal, especially late in the game when his team is ahead by safe margin, but when the game is on the line, Ryan Miller always comes through. I’d rather have a goaltender like that, who statistically is not on par with the elite goaltenders of the league, than a goalie who shuts out poor teams and lets in four goals against elite teams. Ryan Miller gives you a chance in every game he plays while still having the ability to steal a game or two. He’s young and getting better.

He’s also a very focused athlete. The guy mediates before games and has a reputation as someone who takes practice very seriously. I can understand why teams would consider bumping Miller to try and take away from his focus. » Read the rest of this entry «